


Don't Worry, Be Capy

by SeaxWitch



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Crack, Fluff and Humor, I Don't Even Know, M/M, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 10:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14669400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeaxWitch/pseuds/SeaxWitch
Summary: Liam purchases a guinea pig on Craigslist. What arrives at his house a few days later however, is not a guinea pig. In a panic, he runs all the way to the pet store to get help from a very attractive employee named Theo.





	Don't Worry, Be Capy

Liam’s fingers dance skillfully across the keyboard, the tiny clicks of the plastic keys sounding louder in the stillness of his dark room. He slides his thumb over the touch pad of his laptop, flipping between tabs. That’s when it sees it, the perfect ad on Craigslist.

 

_Male, two years old._

_Harness trained._

_Will eat out of your hand._

_Loves to swim._

_Very tame and easy to handle._

_Free to a good home. Must cover delivery costs._

 

Liam had finally proven to his parents that he’s responsible enough to own a pet, but they’d stood firm on their no cats or dogs policy. So after hours of research he settled on a guinea pig. They’re easy to care for, they live a relatively long time and they bounce and vibrate when they’re excited, like popcorn jumping in a microwave..c’mon, what more could someone want in a pet?

 

Liam stares at the picture of the tiny creature, it’s reddish brown coat looks so soft. He can’t wait to cuddle with it. He clicks ‘reply’ and quickly types out a message informing the seller of his interest.

 

Straightening up, he leans back against the headrest of his bed. Now it’s a waiting game.

 

* * *

 

Liam would never describe himself as a morning person. Getting out of bed is not something he usually looks forward to but today is different. Today his little guinea pig friend arrives.

 

He throws back the covers, shivering as a rush of cold air covers his body. Pushing himself to his feet, he pads across the wooden floor to his chest of drawers, pulling out gym shorts and a t-shirt.

 

Liam glances at the clock hanging on the wall as he jogs downstairs, one hour until his delivery is due to arrive. He tries to distract himself by watching TV but every time he hears a car door slamming shut, he finds himself craning his neck to see out of the window.

 

Eventually, the rumbling of an engine outside of his house lets him know a van has pulled up. He jumps to his feet, peering out at the street through the net curtains. He watches impatiently as two men climb into the back of the van. What’s taking them so long? It’s a guinea pig, how big can the box possibly be?

 

A sense of dread settles in the pit of his stomach as a wooden crate emerges on the lift. The box is far bigger than he expected, it looks like it could house an entire army of guinea pigs. He runs over the wording of the advertisement in his mind, it definitely stated one animal... _right?_

 

He continues to watch in horror as the two men struggle to move the crate up his driveway, despite using a trolley made specifically for heavy items. _Why do they even need that?_

 

Liam is so caught up in his own thoughts, that the sound of the doorbell startles him as it reverberates throughout the house. Walking warily to the front door, he hesitates for a moment, his hand hovering above the handle. He can’t pretend he’s not home, his parents would be pissed if they lost the delivery fee. With a shaky hand, he pulls the door open.

 

“Delivery for Liam Dunbar?” The man asks gruffly, looking down at his clipboard.

 

“Y-yeah, that’s me.”

 

He nods once, moving back into position behind the trolley, pushing the crate over the threshold and into the house. “Where do you want it?”

 

“Uh. In the living room, I guess” Liam says timidly, staring after them as they clumsily maneuver around the furniture, placing the crate into the center of the room.

 

“Sign here” one of them says, handing over the clipboard.

 

Liam scribbles his name on the dotted line as his eyes scan over the words on the page, trying to catch a glimpse of anything that will tell him _what the hell_ is happening here, but the form gives nothing away.

 

The second the men step out of the house, he throws the door shut and scurries over to the box. He tilts his head down trying to catch a peak at the creature inside, through one of the many air holes but it’s too dark to see anything. _Only one way to find out,_ he thinks to himself.

 

A soft grunting sound, almost like a purr, echoes within the crate. It sounds kinda cute. After he pried it open, he jumps backwards, waiting for whatever’s inside to run out but nothing happens. Both the animal and Liam blink rapidly as they stare each other down.

 

“Woah. That’s a huge ass guinea pig.” Liam says out loud, his jaw dropping.

 

He takes small, cautious steps over to the corner of the living room, where the bag of guinea pig food he’d purchased yesterday is propped up against the bookshelf. He scoffs at how small the bag looks in comparison to the animal, it could probably eat it’s way through all of this food in a single day.

 

Liam gathers a fistful of the dry pellets and walks slowly back to the crate. He inhales sharply as he holds out the food in his hand, trying to coax the creature out into the open. After a moment, it’s nose begins twitching at the new smell, intrigued by the food on offer. It’s webbed toes tap lightly against the floorboards as it follows Liam’s palm across the room.

 

The animal drops into a sitting position next to Liam’s feet, staring between his hand and his face. Liam stretches his hand closer to it’s mouth, it obviously doesn’t need to be told twice because it begins devouring the food, hastily crunching the pellets into mush.  

 

Liam reaches his other hand behind its ears, his fingertips tangling in the fine, smooth fur as he pats it. “Hey, you’re not so scary are you big guy?” Liam smiles down at him. “I think I’m going to call you Hughie, it’ll be short for humongous. You like that?”

 

The animal bows its head closer towards Liam’s hand, allowing his fingers to slide deeper into its fur before letting out a high pitched whistling sound. Liam draws his hand back, _what the fuck._ The animal makes the same noise again.

 

“Here” Liam says, hastily shoving another pellet towards it. “Put some food in your mouth to stop those sounds from coming out again.”

 

After he finishes eating, Hughie flops down onto his side and closes his eyes. “Yeah, it’s been a long day Hugh. You just rest while I try to find out _what the hell_ you actually are.” Liam mumbles.

 

He retrieves his laptop from upstairs and opens the browser. His fingers hover over the keyboard, he doesn’t even know where to start. _‘Giant guinea pig thing’_ he types out, hitting enter.

 

A Capybara. What is heck is a Capybara? He opens up the web page and right there in the top corner, is a photo of a creature identical to Hughie.

 

His eyes begin skimming the page from left to right, trying to take in as much information as possible. He runs his hands across his forehead and into his hair, this is all far more complicated than he’d anticipated..he’d only wanted a freaking guinea pig for god’s sake.

 

The web page states that they eat grass. What kind of grass? Can he just start pulling chunks from the garden or does it need to be special grass? Is there such a thing as special grass? A wave of nausea washes over him as the panic sets in. He needs help.

 

Grabbing his mobile phone from the table, he scrolls through his contacts until he reaches Mason’s name. His best friend always knows what to do in a crisis. He holds the device to his ear as it rings..and rings. _Great,_ the one time he doesn’t answer his phone and Liam’s entire world is imploding. He hurriedly sends him a text, begging him to cover over as soon as he gets this message.

 

The pet food catches his eye again. The receipt is still stapled to the bag, displaying the logo of the pet store where he’d bought it from. If anyone can help him out of this mess, surely it’ll be someone from the pet store.

 

He hurdles over the back of the couch and heads for the front door, shouting his apologies to Hughie as the movement startles him awake. Slipping on his shoes, he locks up behind him -  he can’t risk having a capybara on the loose. He crosses his fingers in his pocket, silently praying capybaras aren’t destructive animals.

 

Adrenaline courses through his veins as his feet pound against the sidewalk. By the time he reaches the pet store, a thin layer of sweat covers the nape of his neck and his calves are burning but he can’t worry about that. He enters the store darting around people and displays until he reaches the cash desk. Out of breath, he slams his hands onto the counter and says “please don’t ask me why but what do Capybaras eat?”

 

The boy’s eyebrows pull down into a frown as he narrows his eyes at Liam before glancing at his watch. “Um, sorry about that ma’am” he says looking to Liam’s right.

 

That’s when Liam realises the boy is in the middle of serving an elderly woman, his eyes widen as he stutters out an apology of his own. Embarrassed, he takes a step back from the till.

 

“Don’t go anywhere” the guy calls out to him. “My shift is over in five. You can’t just disappear on me now, not after that.” He smiles widely, showing off a row of perfect teeth.

 

Liam lingers awkwardly while the boy packs the woman’s items into a bag. Now that his mind is no longer racing, he finally gets a good look at the cashier - his dark hair falls nicely against the contrast of his light skin. His skin is so clear he looks like an airbrushed model, Liam doesn’t think he’s ever seen someone so attractive before. The boy’s eyes sparkle as he throws curious glances in Liam’s direction, his lips turning into a grin. It’s almost like he knows exactly what Liam’s thinking. He can feel his cheeks turning red as his heart races, now is not the time for him to develop a stupid crush.

 

The boy - who Liam notices is called Theo, thank you name tag - places a ‘till closed’ marker across the conveyor belt and signs himself out before pulling a hoodie out from one of the shelves below. He slips his arms into the sleeves as he makes his way over to Liam.

 

“What’s all this about a capybara then?” he smirks, leading Liam over to an aisle filled with stacks of hay.

 

“I uh- I may have accidentally acquired one.” Liam blushes, nervously running a hand over the back of his neck.

 

“Oh sure, we’ve all been there” Theo nods in understanding.

 

“ _Really?_ ” Liam asks, his voice hopeful.

 

“No” Theo scoffs. “How the hell does someone _accidentally_ acquire the largest rodent in the world?”

 

“I thought I was buying a guinea pig” Liam mumbles.

 

Theo doesn’t even have the decency to try and hide his laughter. “Oh man, that’s brilliant.”

 

“Look” Liam says irritatedly. “If you’re not going to help then can you point me in the direction of someone who actually has the capability to be a decent human being?”

 

“I never said I wasn’t going to help” Theo shrugs, pulling a bag of hay from one of the shelves. It drops to the floor with a thud. “They mostly eat fresh grass and aquatic plants but hay will do the job for now. You’re probably gonna want to stock up on watermelons too, they need a lot of vitamins.”

 

Liam nods, eagerly typing everything Theo is saying into the notes of his phone. He knows so little about these animals, how can he possibly keep Hughie.

 

“Are you writing this down?” Theo snorts. “Nerd.”

 

“Writing important information down is nerdy? What do _you_ do, just forget everything?” Liam grumbles.

 

Theo rolls his eyes, heaving the hay up onto his shoulder. “Come on, I’ll even let you use my employee discount..if you’re nice.”

 

“How do you know so much about about this stuff anyway?” Liam asks as they step outside.

 

“I like animals. Pets are my favourite thing about most people.” Theo says.

 

Liam can’t help but smile at that, he might not know Theo well at all but that seems like a very Theo thing to say.

 

“Where’s your car?” The boy asks, looking around the parking lot.

 

“ _Oh_ , I ran here” he says.

 

Theo raises his eyebrow, shaking his head fondly. “Well I’m not carrying these back to yours so we can take my truck.”

 

The drive to his house is mostly silent, except for the few times a question pops into Liam’s head and he can’t hold it in. He learns that capybaras need access to water every day, Liam wonders what his parents would say if they came home to find a capybara chilling in the pool, eating grass.

 

They pull up to the curb outside of Liam’s, he unbuckles his seat belt and turns to face Theo, surprise takes over his features when he sees Theo opening his car door too. “Oh, you’re coming in?”

 

“Yeah. I mean, if that’s cool?” The boy asks, glancing nervously at the ground. “Someone has to make sure you don’t kill it.”

 

Liam huffs out a laugh, nodding vigorously. “Yeah, I’d like that. I need all the help I can get.”

 

He opens the door to his house a little bit at a time, afraid the animal will escape if he moves too fast. He grips onto Theo’s sleeve, pulling him through the gap in the door, laughing as Hughie runs to greet them.

 

As he stands back, watching Theo glance around the room, he realises that he hasn’t even told the guy his name. “Liam” he blurts out. “Me. My name is Liam, not the capybara. He’s called Hughie.”

 

Theo spins around to face him, nodding briefly in acknowledgement.

 

“I’ll check him over for you, It’s not like I’m a vet or anything but sometimes I help them out with menial tasks at work” Theo shrugs, crouching down next to Hughie.

 

Liam stares as Theo holds out a closed fist, letting Hughie catch his scent. “Is this what you want to do as a job?”

 

“Rescue hopeless guys from their exotic pets?” Theo chuckles.

 

“You know what I mean” Liam sighs, frustratedly.

 

“I don’t want to be a vet or anything. I couldn’t handle seeing animals injured or dying on a daily basis. Or at all actually. I think I want to study Zoology next year, I like biology too so it seems like a good fit for me.”

 

Liam snorts. “You do realise you can’t go back to your indifferent cool guy act now right? Not when you’ve admitted to crying at the thought of hurt animals.”

 

“I never said I cried” Theo twists his mouth to the side.

 

“You _totally_ cried” Liam smiles. “Should you be touching his mouth with your bare hands?” He questions as Theo lifts the fur around its mouth to check out his teeth.

 

“Only wild capybaras carry parasites” Theo says distractedly. “Do you have any scales?”

 

“Like for baking?” Liam frowns. Theo continues to stare at him like he’s the biggest idiot on the planet. “Right, no because that would be stupid. I don’t think we have bathroom scales.”

 

Theo nods, running his hand earnestly over Hughie’s fur. “You’ll need to bring him in to see the store vet, get him weighed.”

 

The boy lifts one of Hughie’s feet, running a finger along the hoof like claws, the animal starts making an anxious clicking sound as Theo works his way around all four feet.

 

“Maybe you should give me him, you obviously have no idea how to work this thing.” Liam worries, taking a step forward.

 

“It’s an animal Liam, not a remote control” Theo says. “You need to get him used to being touched by strangers if you’re ever going to get a vet to take him on.”

 

Theo rips a hole in the bag of hay and removes a small bunch, holding it out to Hughie who happily takes it from him. “Good boy” Theo smiles, rubbing it’s head.

 

Liam stares longingly, why does Theo have to be so good with him? He blinks when a hand waves in front of his face, pulling him out of his daydream..when did Theo get so close? The boy’s gaze drops briefly to Liam’s lips before moving back up to his eyes. Liam sucks in a breath, as a swarm of butterflies flap wildly in his stomach. He dips his head forward ever so slightly, leaning in to Theo, hoping the boy will take the hint and make the first move.

 

Liam jumps back when Theo frowns, worried he’d gotten this all wrong. “Do you not smell that?” Theo asks.

 

Liam breathes in deeply through his nose, an unpleasant scent hitting his nostrils. He glances around until his eyes settle on Hughie. “What is he eating?”

 

Theo brings his hand up to cover his mouth, hiding his laughter. “Capybaras are auto-coprophagous.”

 

Liam stares blankly. What does that even mean?

 

“It means they eat their own..y’know” Theo gestures down at the animal. “It’s a source of good bacteria for them.”

 

“ _Oh my god,_ Hughie no!” Liam cries out. “Don’t you even think about licking my hand after that.”

 

“I better get going..” Theo says slowly.

 

The moment between the two boys has been thoroughly ruined by Hughie’s little accident. Liam probably imagined it all anyway.

 

“Oh yeah, sure. So, I’m probably gonna be grounded once my parents get home and see _him_ but uh..you could come back and visit?” Liam bites down on his bottom lip. “Y’know for Hughie’s sake, he really likes you.”

 

“ _Right_ ” Theo smirks, shooting Liam a knowing look. “Well I wouldn’t want to disappoint _Hughie_. I really like him too.”

 

Theo gives him a small wave before turning towards the door. Liam’s beams brightly at his retreating back but his smile falters. “Wait!” He calls after him. “You do know I was actually talking about me right? _I’m_ the one that likes you.”

 

Theo laughs as he turns to look at Liam once more. “No shit” he smiles affectionately, pausing in the doorway before adding “I like you too Liam.”

 

Liam grins like a maniac as he walks into the living room, throwing himself onto the couch. Twisting around when he hears the front door opening again a few seconds later.

 

“Why was Theo Raeken leaving your house?” Mason asks walking into the room. Liam’s a little offended by how astonished his friend sounds.

 

“How do you know Theo?” Liam replies puzzled.

 

“You’re kidding right?” His friend raises his eyebrows. “He’s only like the hottest senior at our school.”

 

A strangled noise escapes his throat as he thinks back to when he’d told Theo his name, the _look_ he’d given him, he already knew it. He knew of Liam’s existence. A wide smile spreads slowly across his face..he _likes_ him.

 

Mason drops down onto the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table next to Liam’s. “I don’t think I tell you this enough but you’re hopeless.”

 

"So I hear" Liam laughs.

 

Hughie chooses that moment to scurry into the living room, running underneath their legs. “ _Oh my god”_ Mason yells, pulling his feet away from the table. “What is that thing?”

 

“I might have, sort of, accidentally bought a capybara” Liam says.

 

“What the fuck, Liam?”

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear all of your thoughts and opinions :) x


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